Sinn Féin MLA Maeve
McLaughlin said there were serious questions for the Health Minister to answer
following the ordeal that a family had to go through as they brought their
child to England for cardiac surgery.

The Sinn Féin health
spokesperson and chair of the Assembly’s Health Committee said:

“Clearly there are
questions to be answered surrounding the condition of the air ambulance used to
transport this child and his mother to England for life-saving surgery.

“Sinn Féin has
repeatedly said that when surgery is not possible in Belfast, the trauma and
expense of bringing seriously ill children to England made the option of Dublin
a more sensible one.

“In early December the
minister along with his counterpart in Dublin announced a review to assess the current and future needs for children’s heart surgery on
an all-Ireland basis.

“Until that review is complete and
procedures put in place to accommodate the needs of children with cardiac
surgery needs, the minister needs to ensure that children and their families currently requiring treatment have the best
and least stressful care possible.

“This has clearly not happened in this case and the minister needs to
explain what went wrong and ensure it is not repeated.”